St. Paul, MN - Yesterday, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed House File 2497, the K-12 Education budget. The bill delivers $2.2 billion in transformational investments to Minnesota’s schools, including a reduction of the Special Education cross-subsidy by nearly half with a $662 million investment, a measure championed by State Representative Dan Wolgamott (DFL - St. Cloud).
“I got goosebumps when I announced the passage of the historic K-12 Education bill because of the positive impact it will have on my daughters, their classmates, their teachers, and our entire community,” said Rep. Wolgamott, who presided over the debate on the bill. “Providing schools and teachers with the resources they need - whether that’s properly funding special education, hiring additional support staff, or making education more inclusive - is a massive victory for our students and their futures.”
The bill provides a 4% per-pupil increase in the general education formula in 2024 and a 2% increase in 2025 for an investment totaling $704 million over the biennium. The bill also links the formula to inflation in all future years to help school districts have more predictability in their financial outlooks. Under this budget, the St. Cloud School District would see a $11,189,651 investment in Fiscal Year 2024 and $13,233,496 in Fiscal Year 2025.
Having passed the House and Senate, the bill now heads to Governor Walz for his anticipated signature. A spreadsheet of the budget’s investments can be found here, and video of yesterday’s floor debate can be found here.
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